100th Day

Last week, we celebrated the 100th day of school! One of the activities on this special day was to combine Art and Math to make a one hundred piece mosaic. First, we looked at examples of mosaics to learn how they are created. Then, we planned how to make our own. After gluing all the pieces down, we checked each other's mosaics to make sure they had exactly 100 pieces.  

Newsletter 2-16-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

February 16, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, February 17^th – February break begins at the end of the day

·        Friday, February 17^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Morgan: On Monday Samantha’s mom and Alonso’s mom came in. We had to take a picture of ourselves doing a yoga pose. Then we signed our name on a bookshelf in cursive.

Kyle: Some of us read a book called Witty Word Play. The book is a book about jokes. I like the jokes and the riddles in it. One of the jokes is why don’t bears like clowns? Because they taste funny.

Aiden: This week in Gym we made up games in groups. Henry, Alonso, and Hannah were in my group. In our game there was a pitcher and a hitter. The pitcher throws the ball at you and you have to block it with a stick. I liked this game because it is like baseball.

Vinny: Last week in Library we read a story. Then we checked books out. After that I went back on the computer. I went on Starfall.

Hunter: Last week in Music we played our recorders. We also went to stations and played instruments. Then I went to the nurse.

Alonso: Yesterday in Math we started time and we learned different ways to tell time. I learned that time can be interesting. My favorite part was when we learned about a quarter of an hour. For example, if it’s 4:15 you would say it’s a quarter past four.

Joseph: Our class read a book. The book was called The Important Book. It said why something is important. The book is ok! For example: the wind is important because it blows, and the important thing about you is that you are you.

Thomas: Yesterday we worked on Valentines bags. We decorated them with stickers, paper, and colored them. We made them to collect our valentines.

Lindsey: Last week our class went to see a presentation by Officer Phil. It was super funny. He took out two puppets. I liked the turtle because it was funnier than the mouse. I learned about safety.

Rory: On Monday we had Writing Workshop. Ms. Little read us a poem. It was called “My Dog is an Ugly Dog.” It is about a very ugly dog. His legs are much too short for him, and his ears are too long. He is a scruffy dog, is missing clumps of hair, his face is ridiculous, but the person writing the poem loves the dog anyways. Then we had to write about it.

Hannah: Lately in spelling we have started something new where you can create your own words if you have finished all of the lists.  There is only a group of kids who get to do it. My words are thermostat, termination, tumultuous, traumatic, triumphant, transparent, triangular, tribulation, transgression, and tombstone. We will be doing this for the rest of the year.

Robbi: For the next three weeks we’re doing Read across America. We have to read 10 books and fill out a reading log.  Also, there will be a raffle if you bring your reading log in. You win something but I don’t know what it is. It is like a mystery.

James: Last week we read a poem called “The New Kid on the Block.” “The New Kid on the Block” was about a female bully. I liked the poem. We responded to it by writing in our notebooks.

Kate: Yesterday we had a Valentine’s Day party. We passed out our valentines to people in our class. You could also make one for Ms. Little and Mrs. Reilly.

Brianna: Last Friday we played Jeopardy in Math. We all were on a team and the teams had to think of a team name. My team’s name was Team Smarties. At the end a lot of teams were tied.  The whole point of the game was to review division.

Graham: Last week in Art I looked up the meaning of my name. My name means I was born in a gray house, but I was not. I was born in a hospital. After that I did free draw.

Henry: In Writing Workshop lately people are finishing their typing. Some of my friends are done with their whole story. Sadly, Wednesday was the last day of typing. I’m finished with my whole story.

Reese: Yesterday on Valentine’s Day we made a heart, but they aren’t regular hearts. They are hearts that say what we like and how we are different and alike. We had to think about what’s important to us and who we love. My first favorite thing that’s important to me is my family. Another thing that is important to me is gymnastics. I have about 15 things on my list. I like this project because it tells how we are different, alike, and unique. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dorinda: On Monday we had 70s day/backwards day because we filled up the marble jar. Some people did both. I did backwards day. Ms. Little told us that the 70s was about peace and love.

David: In Math we did the division test. The one question I remember was about how Karen caught 5 spiders and each one had 8 legs. They had 40 legs altogether. Then we had to write a related division sentence. It was 40 divided by 8 = 5.

Samantha: We have been practicing MCAS. This week we practiced one about Ben Franklin. The open response question was why was Ben Franklin famous?  One of the ways Ben Franklin was famous was because he discovered that lightning was electricity.

Kyleigh: Hello! We have been reading a book called Swindle. The story is about a couple of kids (Griffin and Ben) having a sleepover at a house that’s going be wrecked the next day. They let a guy look at the Babe Ruth baseball card they found in the house and he lies about how much money it’s actually worth, and he doesn’t give it back! So now they call him Swindle. They are trying to steal it back by going into his house but there is all kinds of security stuff everywhere!

Ms. Little:  February vacation is quickly approaching! Part of your child’s homework over the break is to read for at least 15 minutes each day. An Independent Reading Journal is due the following Monday (February 27^th). The Independent Reading Journals will be given every other week for the remainder of the school year. Please contact me if you have questions or concerns. Enjoy the February break. J

Postcard Project

We did it! Our class has received a postcard from each of the fifty states in our country. Each time a postcard was received it was shared at morning meeting, and then the state was colored on our map. We have also received postcards from many different countries such as Egypt, France, South Africa, Ireland, Thailand, and Australia. Thank you to friends and family members who have sent a postcard our way! 

Tuesday, February 14th

 On Tuesday, February 14^th, our class will be acknowledging a day of friendship.  If your child would like to participate in exchanging cards, please be sure they have one for each student in the class.    

Joseph

Henry

Thomas

Lindsey

Hannah

James

Rory

Hunter

Samantha

Aiden

David

Graham

Cara

Kyle

Reese

Vinny

Brianna

Alonso

Morgan

Dorinda

Kate

Daniel

Kyleigh

Robbi

Newsletter 2-9-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

February 9, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, February 10^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Friday, February 17^th – February break begins at the end of the day

·        Friday, February 17^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Kyle: Last time we went to Gym we had a substitute.  She made up a game and you had to slide a beanbag across the floor. But there was a rule that you couldn’t throw a beanbag. At the start of Gym we skip and run.

Lindsey: Tuesday was the 100^th day of school. We made mosaics. We could only use 100 pieces.  My mosaic is a smiley face with a border. A mosaic is made with a lot of pieces of paper glued on to another paper.

James:  Last week we learned how to write cursive b and f.  Here is b: 

I thought it was fun. PS. Cursive needs a slant.

Robbi: Yesterday we filled up the marble jar. Today we’re going to pick what we want to do. It’s our turn to pick what we’re doing so I’m very excited about it. We could watch a movie, have a special snack, or have crazy hat day!

Dorinda: Last week we received a postcard from Idaho. The class was so excited. It had a big picture of a big potato. I liked getting all fifty states because this is the first time Ms. Little’s class got all fifty states!

Aiden: This week we made a “When I am 100” picture. I wrote I will be rich and drive a good car. I also made a picture of me in a car. I liked making this because you have to be creative.

Samantha: Last Tuesday Brianna and I went to read to Kindergarten. We read to Mrs. Wallace’s class. We read poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends. I had a good time.

Alonso: This week we kept typing our stories in Writing Workshop. I finished typing and I printed my story. The font I chose was Baskerville Old Face. I think it’s fun to write and I want to encourage people to write stories.

Vinny: Last week in Music we did singing stations. We were singing from these little cards that had a bunch of words on them. We were also doing stations using our recorders. I did not like it because it was a lot of work.

David: Last week we read to our new reading buddies in Ms. Burns’ class. Then they read to us. My buddy read a pirate book and a book called The New Kid in School. I liked the books my buddy and I read together.

Cara: When it was Groundhog Day we wanted to learn more about it. Ms. Little went on Google and found it. We watched a movie about it and we learned that his name is Phil. It was a little funny.

Kate: On Tuesday we changed seats. Every table has four desks. I’m with Kyleigh, Henry, and Daniel. Henry wasn’t here on Tuesday. Daniel wasn’t here on Tuesday either. So it was just Kyleigh and me.

Rory: On Monday we got our spelling words. I have list 34 which is the last list. My list has the words with –ible, vis- in them. Some people make up their own spelling words because they have already finished all the lists.

Thomas: Last week we learned about fact families in Math for multiplication and division. A fact family is three numbers. For example, 10, 5, and 50 are the numbers in a fact family. The problems would be 50 divided by 5 = 10, 50 divided by 10 = 5, 5 x 10 = 50 and 10 x 5 = 50.

Morgan: Our class read the book Shrinking Sam. It was about a little boy named Sam who told his mom that he was shrinking. His mom said, “Ok, get ready for school.” When Sam got to school he was so small that his pencil was the size of a crocodile so his teacher sent him home early. When Sam ate his dinner only one pea filled his tummy. When he went to take a bath, the tub was so big to Sam he had to take a bath in the sink. All of a sudden, Sam went down the drain! He was cold and wet and then he met a girl named Izzy. Then, they started paddling and Sam felt himself get picked up on a giant sponge.  He felt himself get bigger and finally when he was regular size again he gave his mom and dad a hug.

Brianna: On Tuesday we had the 100^th day of school! We got to do fun activities like coloring, gluing, writing, and a lot more fun stuff.  We also saw a little Kindergarten parade. The parade was neat because the Kindergarteners had 100^th day glasses and hats. We all had a lot of fun including Ms. Little.

Kyleigh: Last week in Writing Workshop in Ms. Little’s class we listened to a poem called Jimmy Jet and His TV Set. Then we wrote for a few minutes about what it made us think of. I wrote about the Superbowl. You kind of express your feelings when you write about the story I think.

Hunter: Last week in Library Mrs. Patino read us a story and we played on the computers for a few minutes. I played a Pac-man game except it was a math Pac-man. Then we checked out books if we wanted to.

Graham: In Art we painted our clay houses.  My clay house is a log cabin. I liked hen we built it better than when we painted it.  I liked it because I like clay and paint. It was one of the most favorite projects I ever did. The way we built them is we made snakes, took a soggy toothbrush and brushed the top of the clay and stuck them on. For the roof we made a pinch pot and stuck it on. A pinch pot is a shallow pot made out of clay.

Henry:  A few months ago on October 13, 2011, we had a student moving to Sudbury named Alexander. He wanted us to write letters to him so I did.  The last time I wrote to him I gave him a paper airplane. So Alexander wrote back to us and gave each person in our class who wrote him a letter a letter back.

Reese:  On Tuesday in class on 100^th day, Ms. Little read us a story called Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler. The setting was in a classroom. Everyone was fighting in class. Mrs. Ruler talked to them about their fighting. The teacher said to do acts of kindness at home and then share it to the class the next day so they did. Then everyone wanted to do it except David. He did zero acts.  The next day they got 30 acts of kindness! At the end they did 100 acts of kindness! David helped too. I liked the story because they were being nice to each other.

Hannah: Lately in Swindle (the read aloud we’re listening to) Griffin and Ben’s plan to break into the store didn’t work. It didn’t work because the safe wasn’t in the store when they got in. Ever since the plan had flunked they had just been really helpless. One day when Ben and Griffin were riding in his parent’s car they saw a dog chasing them and they realized that the safe was probably at Swindle’s house.  A few hours later when they were outside and were talking about the new plan a teacher overheard them. For an excuse they said they were talking about a school project.  The teacher ended up giving them advice to go to the town hall. At the town hall they found out that there were six of the exact same houses build and Swindle’s was one of them! They ended up faking an injury to get into the house and find a plan.

Ms. Little:  We are working on our division unit in Math. Practicing multiplication and division facts at home will help your child become automatic with their facts for multiplying and dividing within 100. On another note, thank you to families who have contributed items to our classroom supply. We are still running low on disinfecting wipes and dry-erase markers and would greatly appreciate any donations. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 2-1-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

February 2, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, February 3^rd – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Lindsey: Last Wednesday Mrs. Small and Mrs. Bator came in to our class. We talked about bullying. They read us a story called The Secret Bully.

James: Yesterday we started division. We used division bears on the Smartboard. We dragged counters into circles to make equal groups. I thought it was easy.

Reese: Yesterday at school a storyteller came and told us stories about bullying. The book was called Once Upon a Time. We were in the lunch room when she read to us. One story was about a rat in the woods who bullied animals that were smaller than him. Then there was a story about a boy who was playing a came and had to think of mean words to say. The last story she told us was about 3 butterflies who were different colors and had to hide but the flowers were different colors. My favorite story was the rat story.

Joseph: Once we read a book called Moe McTooth. We read this book because we were practicing for MCAS. It was about a cat that lived outside and it did a lot of things that were fun. But then winter came and Moe McTooth was lonely. Then he was sleeping outside and a young woman came and carried him to her house. In the spring, the cat ran away because he missed being outside but then he was lonely again. He went back to the house and the woman hugged him. Then they both stayed inside during the day and went out during the night. That’s the story. I hope you liked it.

Kyleigh: Today I’m going to tell you about writing cursive e and l. They both look like a loopy loop.  We practiced writing them together, like el, and le, but in cursive.

Alonso: On Monday we had an assembly. It was about bullying. It was a long one too. We learned what the core values are at Green Meadow. I liked this assembly because Tony the Tiger was there too.

David: We learned about division in Math. One strategy is that you can put circles with dots in them. For example, if you had 6 divided by 2, you’d draw 2 circles and give out 6 dots to each one. Then you count how many are in one circle.

Vinny: Last week in Library we went on the computers and Mrs. Patino read us a book. On the computer I did Starfall. I made a funny snowman.

Kyle: Our class sometimes gets postcards from different places. This week the class got one from Louisiana. Then we colored it in on our map.

Robbi: Last week we started to make Valentine cards for the veterans and soldiers. What I wrote was, “Hi, my name is Robbi. Thanks for keeping our country safe.” Then we decorated the cards and now we are going to send them.

Thomas: In Math, we took the subtraction test. In the subtraction test there were subtraction problems and a bar graph problem.  When we were done with the test we read or worked on unfinished work.

Dorinda: Yesterday we did our February calendars for homework. We write what we do in that month. We do it to learn more about people. I like doing the February calendars because we learn more about the people in our class.

Cara: We have been reading Swindle. We stopped at where Griffin was trying to get into the building where Swindle (S. Wendell Palomino) had his store. Ben was in a box that was delivered to the store. They waited until Swindle left to pop out and look for the baseball card.

Morgan: This week we had Art. We have to rush because we need to paint our clay homes. So right now we are finishing our book homes.

Graham: Last week we watched a Dr. Martin Luther King movie on Brainpop. It was about his life and what he believed in. I liked it because they just kept moving no matter how many people tried to get in their way.

Hannah: This week we received a few more postcards and two of them were from North Dakota and South Dakota. Now, the only state we have left is Idaho. We might just fill up the whole map! (If we get a postcard from Idaho)

Samantha: On Monday my mom (Mrs. Grundstrom) came in for Yoga. We worked on Warrior one and Warrior two poses. Next we went back to our desks and listened to a meditation about biking.

Henry: In Writing Workshop we have been working on our realistic fiction stories. Once you finish your sloppy copy you go onto typing. I already finished typing so I need to draw the pictures. You also can choose your font. Your font is what your words look like. There is cursive, bubble letters, and small bubble letters. My story is about a person named Buddy Duddy who has friends that go to the Fenn School but he goes to Fowler so he is struggling to find a new friend which is sort of the story. Most of the people he asks are mean to him except for one named Jack. Buddy plays soccer and really likes the soccer players Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, and Christano Ronaldo. He likes the teams Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Rory: In Math we have been learning about division. We played a game about division on our white boards with dice. Say you rolled an 8 and a 2, you would do 8 divided by 2. You would draw 2 big circles and then see if you could put 8 in the circles without having any remainders. If you could do it evenly you would get a point but if you couldn’t then you wouldn’t get a point.

Brianna: This Tuesday we had Gym with our class and a 1^st grade class. Ms. Hazel, our gym teacher, said, “We are going to play dodge ball!” So we got excited. Then she told us all the rules and then we played. It was a lot of fun.

Hunter: Last week in Music we played Stella Ella Olla. You play it like this: in a small group or a big group in a circle with one hand on top and one hand on the bottom. Then you sing the song while you play.

Ms. Little:  We have just begun our division unit in math. Practicing multiplication and division facts with a family member at home will help your child become automatic with their facts for multiplying and dividing within 100. On another note, thank you to families who have contributed items to our classroom supply. We are still running low on disinfecting wipes and dry-erase markers and would greatly appreciate any donations. Enjoy the weekend. J